On their special update page, the title for the Steam Deck section is "Native Steam Deck Support", although it's not clear what kind of "Native" they actually mean - as right now there's still only the Windows build on Steam.

I expect that we'll get this kind of muddled language from developers for a while, where they're contemplating the Deck as a console and not thinking about Linux at all. Hopefully it'll get cleared up in time with more experience, more direct testing, and more marketshare for Linux as a gaming platform.

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Quoting: rustybroomhandleOf the Deck Verified titles, some games with native ports still show Proton as the recommended runtime. Falconeer, for example.

According to Pierre-Loup Griffais, initial tests didn't test the native version first, and they've subsequently fixed that. Those games would need to go through the testing process again for the corrected policy.

In this case, it seems to be a testing datapoint from before a change in process where native versions are tested first, if available. You can get it re-reviewed, see the bits in the doc at the end there: https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/steamdeck/ [External Link]

Twitter link [External Link]

It's something that I've grumbled about previously, so I'm glad they've fixed it.

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Quoting: Liam DaweI can confirm that with Proton 7 there are problems. After 20 minutes or so it stuttered to a crawl and then froze up tight. Could only hard reboot as whole system was unresponsive.

Sounds like out-of-RAM. You could monitor it with mangohud to confirm.

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Quoting: lectrodethe 10s of thousands of games in the steam catalogue (10,263 according to google).

64,364 [External Link] today. It'll be more tomorrow. That's just games; there's DLC and non-game software, too.

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Quoting: melkemindBy supporting Proton, aren't they, by extension, supporting Linux?

For me: no.

Testing in Proton is definitely better than not testing in Proton, and I'll give a game developer more money because of that, but that's not supporting Linux, which would get them more money still.

Even if they're testing in Proton, if it turns out that an update breaks their game in Proton are they going to drop the update or drop the game running in Proton? That there could be a question there shows that you're not getting support. If they're "supporting the Steam Deck" and their game doesn't work on your Linux machine, are they going to help you or not? That official support for Linux machines in the minimum requirements box gives you something to point at should it not work, which is valuable and means that I'll pay more for a game that supports Linux than one that merely supports Proton.

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They did send over an advanced key for the upcoming demo, which appeared to work with Proton but it has a few videos that didn't play.

I'm sure you've been helpful and diligent already, but they should be aware that

Video/Audio Codecs: We recommend using standalone codecs (eg., VP9) rather than codecs that are tied to a specific vendor (eg., WMF).

from the documentation [External Link], so that they don't get locked in to having to re-encode everything at a later point when there's more that needs redoing.

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Quoting: rustybroomhandleI do like that they have requires_internet_for_singleplayer. I hope this encourages one or two publishers to cut that shit out. I mean losing the green tick might not seem like much, but for Steam Deck users that's possibly the difference between a sale and not.

Sadly that one doesn't stop them getting the tick. It does show up as a warning in the Store, though, so that's something.

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Quoting: rustybroomhandleI wonder if they tested native or Proton for Steam Deck verified. The tested buildID info seems to be Windows stuff, but not sure if that's enough info to work off.

Build numbers are generally shared between platforms (unless they're built by different people, which may well be the case for third-party ports).

The earliest test results don't specify, but the more recent test results have either configuration/recommended_runtime: proton-stable or configuration/recommended_runtime: native.

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Quoting: Liam DaweSure, it's a bit of mix and match absolutely :) but unless it's very game-specific, it's probably a bug for Valve to solve.

If everyone does their part it should all work really well in the expensive and iterative workflow that Valve like, and which the open source model is really good for.

There will be developers that don't bother to test at all - Valve are supporting my game now! - and break things willy-nilly (which we've already seen happen with half-arsed native builds) and that's going to really suck for everyone.

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Quoting: Liam DaweI think you're largely missing the point though. Apart from a few notable exceptions, Proton is supposed to run Windows games out of the box - the point being that if something doesn't and it's not in the known list - that's a bug for Valve to solve. Game developers cannot realistically be held liable for support with Proton IMO.

And Valve can't change anything about the game, nor pre-emptively test every update for every game before it's released. Game developers can, and do, do that, and now they'll need to do it in Proton too if they want to be sure of getting or keeping their Verified mark. And report Proton bugs to Valve if they find some.

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